Decluttering your closet 'has to be easy,' here's how

Decluttering your closet can be an easy task when you follow the "one in, one out" rule according to an Ottawa specialist.

When you buy a new item, you should go to your closet and take one item out, Martha Tobin, owner of Declutter4Good told CTV Morning Live.

"And it doesn't have to be the same item. So, you buy a new sweater, you don't have to take a sweater out. You can take a shirt. You can take shoes," she explained. "You can go to your kitchen. You can take some Tupperware."

Respecting the balance and the equilibrium of your home is the key to declutter, she adds. The equilibrium gets off track when you bring something new to your home and not let something else go, according to Tobin.

Tobin recommends setting up a donation bin to get rid of unwanted items.

"Put one in your guest room closet. Put one in your laundry room. And then those items that you're wanting to purge or declutter, That's (the donation bin) is just an easy place to drop them," Tobin added.

Tobin gives some tips to clear the closet at the end of each season. One of those tips is to hang all the clothes backwards. Then, when you wear an item, hang it forward. And by the end of the season, you'd be able to see which ones you wore and which ones you didn't.

Another tip is to group the clothes by colour and style. This will help you decide which item or colour to dispose of when you buy a new item, as you do not want to have duplicates.

And to pack away your out of season clothes, she recommends using transparent plastic boxes.

"Because now you’re going to be able to see" which box is yours, and which one belongs to another member of the family, Tobin explained.

Here's how to optimize your closet space

To make your life even easier, she recommends using baskets and bins to store your clothes on the shelves of your closet. She suggests putting all your jeans in one basket, and all your scarves in another, then placing the baskets on the top shelf of the clothes.

"Organising has to be easy," she said. "Or nobody does it."

Adding more shelves to stack clothing items is also another idea she suggests while organizing your closet.

"You're making new room," she explained.

Making use of the unused space in your closet, such as the back of your doors is also important. She suggests installing an over-the-rack shoe rack or a clothing holder.

"This is an additional way to use vertical space," Tobin said.

To donate your items, you can visit Declutter4good.ca.